Publications

The Teachings of Modern Protestantism on Law, Politics, and Human Nature New

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  • Format: Book
  • Published: 2007, Columbia University Press
  • ISBN: 9780231133609
  • 582 pages
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This comprehensive work includes writings from some of the most important Christian thinkers of the 19th and 20th centuries, with analysis of their work by leading scholars. The collection underscores how crucial Christian thinkers have shaped and continue to shape a range of current debates about the family, state, religion, and society. The first volume considers the ideas, influences, and intellectual and cultural contexts of Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian thinkers. Figures discussed include Jacques Maritain, Gustavo Gutierrez, Dorothy Day, Pope John Paul II, Susan B. Anthony, Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhold Niebuhr, Martin Luther King Jr., Nikolai Berdyaev, and Vladimir Lossky. The second volume includes annotated readings of works by each of these figures, with extensive biographic and bibliographic information. The three-volume paperback breaks the materials into Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox essays and readings.

Contributors

Frank S. Alexander, Milner S. Ball, Nicholas P. Wolterstorff, Timothy P. Jackson, Mary D. Pellauer, George Hunsinger, Davison M. Douglas, Duncan B. Forrester

About the Editor: John Witte, Jr.

John Witte, Jr. is Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law, Alonzo L. McDonald Distinguished Service Professor, and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion Center at Emory University.  A specialist in legal history, marriage law, and religious liberty, he has published 180 articles, 11 journal symposia, and 23 books – including recently Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment (2000, 2d. ed. 2005); Law and Protestantism: The Legal Teachings of the Lutheran Reformation (2002); Sex, Marriage and Family Life in John Calvin’s Geneva (2005); Modern Christian Teachings on Law, Politics, and Human Nature, 3 vols. (2006); God’s Joust, God’s Justice: Law and Religion in the Western Tradition (2006); The Reformation of Rights: Law, Religion, and Human Rights in Early Modern Calvinism (2007); Christianity and Law: An Introduction (2008); and Sins of the Fathers: The Law and Theology of Illegitimacy Reconsidered (2009).  He has five books under contract.

Witte’s writings have appeared in 10 languages, and he has lectured and convened conferences through North America, Western and Eastern Europe, Japan, Israel, and South Africa.  With major funding from the Pew, Ford, Lilly, Luce, and McDonald foundations, he has directed 12 major international projects on democracy, human rights, and religious liberty, and on marriage, family, and children. These projects have collectively yielded more than 160 new volumes and 250 public forums around the world.  He edits two major book series, “Studies in Law and Religion,” and “Religion, Marriage and Family.” He has been selected 10 times by the Emory law students as the Most Outstanding Professor and has won dozens of other awards and prizes for his teaching and research.  

Witte is married to Eliza Ellison, a theologian and trained mediator.  They have two daughters: Alison Marie Witte, an anthropology and religion major at Emory University, and Hope McCormick Jarkowski, an Emory College and Catholic Law School alumna who practices law in Washington, DC.  Hope is married to Justin Jarkowski, and they are the proud new parents of Baylor Jarkowski.  Alison is Baylor’s godmother; Eliza and John are overly doting new grandparents. 

 

Selected Publications

About the Editor: Frank S. Alexander

FRANK S. ALEXANDER is professor of law at Emory University School of Law and founding director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion. Alexander founded Emory's internationally renowned Law and Religion Program in 1982. One of the nation's leading scholars on homelessness and housing, Alexander's work focuses on affordable housing, urban redevelopment, and state and local government law. He is the author of Land Bank Authorities, Georgia Real Estate Finance and Foreclosure Law, and co-editor with John Witte, Jr., of The Teachings of Modern Christianity on Law, Politics and Human Nature (2 vols.) and The Weightier Matters of the Law: Essays on Law and Religion. Alexander has published numerous articles in his areas of specialty, and received more than 20 awards for his teaching and public service. He served as a fellow of the Carter Center of Emory University from 1993-1996, and as a Commissioner of the State Housing Trust Fund for the Homeless from 1994-1998.

Selected Publications